EXERCISE YOU WILL NEED
ACADEMIC
RESOURCES:
Based on your chosen brief, pick a
scientific principle or technology and
build a fictional world around it. Include
an explanation of what it is and how
it fits in the world you are creating.
Develop the characters in your story and
the locations where the action will take
place. Record your ideas in the template
using notes or bullet points.
[10 minutes]
Introduce the science or technology
into the narrative of your story. This step
is called the scientific inflection point.
Again, use notes or bullet point form to
explore this.
[5 minutes]
Explore what implications and
ramifications your science or technology
have on the world you created. Does it
affect people’s lives for better or worse?
Is there a risk that it might lead to a
disaster or even the end of the world as
we know it? This step is referred to as the
ramifications of the science or technology
on people.
[10 minutes]
With the science or technology now
being part of the future scenario,
describe what happens next. If there
was a disaster, how could it be fixed
to save the world? Does the science or
technology need to be modified? This
step is referred to as the human inflection
point.
[10 minutes]
Develop your outline into a full science
fiction story, if you have time to do so.
Otherwise use the outline for ideation
purposes, in step 6.
Reflect on what you learned from
creating the outline of your science
fiction story. What are possible
implications, solutions or lessons learned?
What are aspects that could be taken into
the current reality and integrated into an
envisioned solution that addresses your
chosen brief?
[10 minutes]
Pen, paper
In this exercise, you will use the “five steps” template (p.X) to develop a narrative
science fiction prototype. Focus on your design problem, or choose the Autonomous
Vehicles brief (p.X).
Dourish, P., & Bell, G. (2014).
Resistance is futile: reading
science fiction alongside
ubiquitous computing.
Personal and Ubiquitous
Computing, 18(4), 769-778.
Johnson, B. D. (2011). Science
fiction prototyping: Designing
the future with science
fiction. Synthesis Lectures
on Computer Science, 3(1),
1-190.
Shedroff, N., & Noessel, C.
(2012). Make It So: Interaction
Design Lessons from Science
Fiction. Brooklyn, New York,
USA: Rosenfeld Media.
Science fiction prototypes are stories
placed in the distant future. They allow
the fictional exploration of scenarios, in
which people interact with envisioned
products or services. The narrative of the
story is based on real scientific principles
and technologies but explores their use in
an environment that is free of constraints.
The story follows a set structure, which
includes identifying the characters, the
scientific principle or technology, and so
on. Critically, the narrative should include
an inflection point, possibly leading to a
disaster, as well as an exploration of the
implications and how the characters can
recover or overcome this disaster.
Once a story narrative is developed,
it is turned into either a prototype
representation of how an envisioned
product or service would be used in the
future. This is often an essay, comic or
movie. However, even the skeleton of
the narrative can be a useful artefact in a
design process.
The science fiction prototype can then be
used to reflect on which of its elements
could be brought back into the current
design situation. The method is used for
speculative prototyping as well as ideation
– by using elements from the science
fiction prototype to inform the design of a
solution.
Science fiction prototyping is used by
tech companies as a way to explore
how their technology will be used in
future scenarios. For example, Intel uses
this method to determine how people
will be interacting with semiconductor-
based products in the future, which
helps them to identify requirements for
the development of new semiconductor
technology. Science fiction prototypes are
also useful to communicate speculative
ideas and scenarios within design teams.
Science Fiction
Prototyping
Using the future to improve the now
1 4
5
6
3
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Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat.
Science Fiction Prototyping
EXERCISE YOU WILL NEED
ACADEMIC
RESOURCES:
Reflect on the user of the product or
service you have in mind. If you need a
topic, you can use a sample persona (URL)
and focus on one of the following:
E.g. Getting money out of an ATM
E.g. Purchasing concert tickets
E.g. Making a cup of coffee
[3 minutes]
Write down three to five key steps
that the user would go through when
interacting with the product or service.
Plan what ‘shots’ and techniques you
could use to illustrate these steps. Shots
can include:
• Wide shot: showing the surrounding
context
• Long shot: showing a person with
their body fully visible and his/her
surrounds
• Medium shot: showing a person’s
head and shoulders
• Over-the-shoulder shot: looking at
things “over the shoulder” of a person
• Point of view shot: showing things
through a person’s eyes
• Close-up shot: showing a detailed
view of a device or interface
[5 minutes]
Draw your storyboard in the template.
Try to begin with a ‘wide shot’ to
establish an impression of where the
story begins and to introduce the objects
or people that are important.
[5 minutes]
For each remaining step illustrate what
the person would do. You can just use
simple symbols and stick figures. Use a
variety of shots to show relevant parts
of the environment and the interactions
between the person and the evaluated
product or service.
[15 minutes]
Add short captions to describe each
step. Ideally, every panel should show a
single action accompanied by a sentence
explaining the action. To improve your
storyboard try the following:
• Use bold outlines or highlight colours
to draw attention to important parts
• Use arrows to indicate important
directions of movement
[5 minutes]
Paper, pens, coloured
pencil
In this exercise, you will create a storyboard documenting an existing situation or
demonstrating a new design idea. Use the provided template (p.X) to get started.
Greenberg, S., Carpendale,
S., Marquardt, N., & Buxton,
B. (2011). Sketching user
experiences: The workbook.
Elsevier.
Truong, K. N., Hayes, G.
R., & Abowd, G. D. (2006).
Storyboarding: an empirical
determination of best
practices and effective
guidelines. In Proceedings
of the Designing Interactive
systems (pp. 12-21). ACM.
Davidoff, S., Lee, M. K., Dey,
A. K., & Zimmerman, J.
(2007, September). Rapidly
exploring application design
through speed dating. In
International Conference on
Ubiquitous Computing (pp.
429-446). Springer Berlin
Heidelberg.
Storyboards in design are used to visually
explore the interactions between people
and products or services. They can
either represent an existing situation or
communicate an envisioned situation.
When depicting existing situations, the
story should be based on real data, for
example, collected through contextual
observation (p.X). Storyboards of existing
situations are effective for highlighting
issues with current experiences.
Storyboards of envisioned situations can
be used for evaluating early concepts
with other team members or prospective
users and for communicating concepts to
others.
Storyboards can be either hand-drawn
or digitally composed illustrations that
take techniques from film-making and
comics. They consist of rectangular frames
arranged horizontally or vertically in
temporal order to narrate a story. Each
frame represents a ‘shot’, similar to the
use of storyboards in film. Speech and
thought bubbles are used to represent
dialogues and thought processes. To keep
the story easily accessible, the number
of panels should be between three and
six. If more panels are needed, they can
be included as an additional storyboard.
Details in a panel are used to focus the
viewer’s attention on the important
parts of the scenario such as one of the
characters interacting with a product.
Descriptions above or below each panel
are used to explain the scene within
the panel. Time can be indicated either
explicitly using a clock or calendar, or
through implicit indicators such as a rising
sun or contextual dialogues.
The characters in the story should be
based on user representations, for
example in the form of personas (p.X) or
extreme characters (p.X). Characters can
interact with each other as well as the
explored product or service to express
emotions and relationships.
Using the power of comics to explain
concepts
Storyboarding
1 3
4
5
2
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Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat.
Storyboarding
EXERCISE YOU WILL NEED
A pen
In this exercise, you will create a user journey map using the template provided (p X).
Before you start, you will need a good understanding of the current user experience
based on prior research. You can follow the Supermarket of the Future brief (p.X) for
this exercise.
User Journey
Mapping
Understanding complex user
YOU WILL NEED
EXERCISE Smartphone with camera,
paper, cardboard, masking tape,
post-it notes, pens, optionally:
video editing software
In this exercise, you will create a 30-second video prototype to convey an idea for a
product or service. You will learn how to use techniques to represent the interactions
between people and a product or service through video.
Video
Prototyping
Communicating design concepts
ACADEMIC
RESOURCES:
YOU WILL NEED
EXERCISE
Arrange a workshop with one or more
participants. Every participant should
have recent experience of the problem
domain.
e.g. shopping for groceries in the
supermarket
Ask the participant(s) to use the
provided images and materials to
express their experiences (URL). They can
glue these onto the A0 paper, arranged
in such a way that they represent the
participant’s routines and relationships.
Your participant(s) can also use lines,
annotations and sketches to accompany
the pictures they have selected.
E.g. A line connecting two pictures could
represent a relationship
E.g. Annotations can be used to clarify
the choice of a picture.
[25 minutes]
Use the resulting map to interview
your participant(s). Ask them questions
about their activities, the people they
interact with, the technologies they use,
and the problems they face. Follow up
any interesting points that you observed
during the map-making. Take notes and/
or record the conversation.
Get your participant(s) to take
photographs of the environment, objects
and technologies they encounter in the
problem domain, in the week after the
workshop. Print these photos.
[1 week]
Conduct a second workshop where you
ask the same participant(s) to augment
their existing map with the photos
they took. This will help to improve the
representation and understanding of the
problem domain.
[20 minutes]
1-3 people, A0 and A4 paper,
coloured markers, pen,
scissors, glue, sticky tape
In this exercise, you will employ cartographic mapping to understand the practices
of one or more participants, and identify opportunities for design solutions. Choose
your own design problem, or focus on the Supermarket of the Future brief (p.X) and use
the resources on the companion website (URL).
Elovaara, P., & Mörtberg,
C. (2010). Cartographic
mappings: participative
methods. In Proceedings
of the 11th Biennial
Participatory Design
Conference (pp. 171-174).
ACM.
Finken, S., & Mörtberg,
C. (2014). Performing
Elderliness–Intra-actions
with Digital Domestic
Care Technologies. In IFIP
International Conference
on Human Choice and
Computers (pp. 307-319).
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Mapping and other methods involving
making collages are frequently employed
in participatory design workshops to
capture and understand domain-specific
user knowledge. Cartographic mapping
is a mapping method with a particular
focus on the mediating role of the map-
making activity in mutual knowledge
construction. In this method, the facilitator
and participant are working together on
creating a visualisation of the participant’s
daily routines, relationships and settings
within a problem domain.
A typical cartographic mapping process
involves two stages taking place in a
workshop setting: 1) making an initial
map, and 2) enhancing the map through
a participant-performed ethnographic
study. In the first stage, workshop
participants are asked to create a map
of their relationships with other people,
devices, and other material objects in their
problem domain. A large blank paper,
the various cut-out pictures, post-it notes,
and colourful markers are provided for the
activity. The participants place a picture
representing themselves on the paper
and then start to map relations with other
entities around it. During this process,
the workshop facilitator asks questions
about the participants’ particular
choices of images and the relationships
being mapped. In the second stage,
the participants are asked to take
photographs of the setting relating to the
problem domain to capture the details
of their work or everyday routines. In a
subsequent workshop, the participants
add these photographs onto the maps
they created in the first workshop to
develop a better understanding of the
problem domain.
In addition to the creation of thick and
rich visual representations of people’s
daily routines, relationships and settings,
the activity of map-making facilitates
an informal conversation about the
various problems and matters of concern
supported by relevant visuals.
Cartographic
Mapping
Generating rich depictions of settings
and practices in a problem domain
1 5
6
3
4
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Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat.
Cartographic Mapping
EXERCISE YOU WILL NEED
ACADEMIC
RESOURCES:
Decide what you want to achieve from
the co-design workshop and write it
down.
E.g. A better way of buying fresh produce
[5 minutes]
Consider the logistics of your co-design
workshop:
• What kind of people should be there?
E.g. frequent shoppers, avid cooks
• How will you record it? E.g. notes,
written feedback, observations, video
• What is the order of activities and
their duration? E.g. immersion,
talking about current experiences,
describing ideal experiences,
evaluating initial concepts. Prepare a
script.
[20 minutes]
Prepare the workshop materials. Use
printed images to immerse participants
in the problem space. Leverage existing
sketches or prototypes of initial concepts
or select examples from the resources
(URL) for Supermarket of the Future.
Identify methods to complete during the
workshop such as:
• Low-fidelity prototyping
• Storyboarding
[20 minutes]
Prepare key questions for participants to
use throughout the workshop.
E.g. “What do you currently enjoy / not
enjoy about shopping?”
E.g. “What would an ideal shopping
experience look like for you?”
E.g. “What are some features of this
design that you like?
E.g. “What would you change?”
[10 minutes]
Run the workshop. Be sure to
communicate the purpose and intended
outcomes. Explain the purpose of the
design, but without being too detailed,
as this can limit the creativity of the
participants. Introduce each activity as
it starts. Allow participants to design
concepts and augment existing ideas
with their suggestions. Offer templates
and frameworks to assist participants
with completing the chosen methods.
[1-4 hours]
After the workshop you can interpret the
collected data using a nity diagramming
(p.X) or thematic analysis (p.X). Gather
the feedback and concepts from co-
designers. How does this influence the
design concept?
3+ people, pens, paper,
an initial concept
In this exercise, you will learn how to design and conduct a co-design workshop. You
will decide what the purpose of the workshop is, who the participants are, and which
methods to use. Focus on your own design problem or the Supermarket of the Future
brief (p.X).
Sanders, E. B. N. (2002). From
user-centered to participatory
design approaches. Design
and the social sciences:
Making connections, 1(8).
Steen, M., Manschot, M. A. J., &
De Koning, N. (2011). Benefits
of co-design in service design
projects. International Journal
of Design 5 (2) 2011, 53-60.
Co-design workshops bring users,
customers, stakeholders and designers
together to rapidly critique and iterate on
design concepts, ensuring that their needs
remain at the centre of the design process.
Co-design and similar methodologies,
such as participatory design, involve the
users and other stakeholders participating
actively, building on concepts they are
presented with (be it a current user
experience or a new design concept)
and informing the future direction of
the design. The principle of co-design is
to “design with” rather than “designing
for” people. Users and other stakeholders
are in an active role, contributing to the
design, rather than passively responding
to design decisions.
Co-design workshops build on this
principle and include a preparation
phase, recruitment phase, the workshop
itself, interpretation and action. The first
phase, preparation, is used to determine
the overall direction for the workshop.
This can involve the development of an
initial concept that users can respond
to, for example, in the form of a low-
fidelity prototype (p.X) or storyboard (p.X).
During the workshop, participants are
taken through the stages of immersion,
talking about current experiences, ideal
experiences, and finally, evaluating and
iterating the initial concept. Comments
from participants along with any artefacts
that were co-designed during the
workshop are then analysed and fed back
into the design process.
Co-design workshops can be employed
at any stage of the design process.
During the research phase, they can
be used to inform a complete view of
people’s circumstances and situations. For
projects that focus on the re-design of an
existing product or service, this includes
developing an understanding of how
people currently make use of the product
or service. During the prototyping phase,
co-design workshops can be used to
rapidly iterate concepts.
Co-Design
Workshops
Designing with your
participants
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Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat.
Co-Design Workshop
ACADEMIC
RESOURCES:
Goodman, E., Kuniavsky, M.,
& Moed, A. (2012). Chapter
9. Field Visits: Learning from
Observation. In Observing
the User Experience: A
Practitioner’s Guide to User
Research (pp.211-238). MA,
USA: Elsevier.
How to Conduct User
Observations. (2017, February
4). The Interaction Design
Foundation. Retrieved from
https://www.interaction-
design.org/literature/article/
how-to-conduct-user-
observations
Contextual observation can be used to
study people’s behaviour in different
environments, such as workplaces,
their homes, public spaces, and so on.
Experiences in real life don’t happen in a
vacuum, and contextual observation takes
into account the range of external factors
that can influence people’s behaviour,
such as environmental, temporal and
social factors.
Data collected through contextual
observation includes user’s actions,
physical posture, changes in facial
expressions and gaze, and gestures in
relation to a specific task, component or
aspect of a product or service. Analysing
these data can then reveal aspects of
behaviours, workflows, and existing
products or services. In contextual
observation, data is mainly limited
to people’s behaviour that is visually
accessible, such as their reactions to
input from the surrounding built or
ambient environment, social interactions,
and so on. These factors and the natural
relationship between the user and the
context would not be accounted for in
observation carried out in the controlled
environment of a lab.
Contextual observation can be used for
developing a better understanding of a
design problem or context, as well as for
gathering feedback about a prototype
design. In the latter case, it provides
a more natural alternative to usability
testing (p.X), which is typically conducted
in a structured lab environment.
To ensure that the observation reveals
useful data, some preparation is required.
Most importantly, the objective of the
observation has to be defined before the
observation takes place. Other aspects
to plan and consider include audience,
location, time of the day, and day of the
week.
Contextual
Observation
Observing how people act in
the wild
42 Contextual Observation
ACADEMIC
RESOURCES:
Madsen, K. H. (1994). A guide
to metaphorical design.
Communications of the ACM,
37(12), 57-62.
Hey, J., Linsey, J., Agogino,
A. M., & Wood, K. L. (2008).
Analogies and metaphors in
creative design. International
Journal of Engineering
Education, 24(2), 283-294.
Schön, D. (1979). Generative
Metaphor: A Perspective on
Problem-setting in Social
Policy. In A. Ortony (Ed.)
Metaphor and Thought
(pp. 254-283). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
In linguistics, metaphors are “A figure
of speech in which a word or phrase is
applied to an object or action to which
it is not literally applicable” (Oxford
Dictionary). In design, metaphors are used
to refer to familiar precedents from the
world around us. The metaphor assists the
transfer of what we know in one domain
(the source) into another different domain
(the target).
The desktop metaphor used in the
graphical user interface of personal
computers is a classic example of
using a metaphor to aid conceptual
understanding of interactions. Applying
metaphors from an o ce environment
allows people to easily learn how to
perform interactions within a graphical
user interface. Like on a physical desk, files
are located inside folders. Unwanted files
are dragged into a rubbish bin.
Applying different metaphors during
the conceptual design phase can
reveal a variety of design solutions. For
example, the metaphor of “computers as
humans” leads to dialogue-based forms
of interaction, whereas the metaphor
of “computers as tools” leads to direct
manipulation-based forms of interaction.
Designs that are modelled on nature are
also referred to as biomimicry. Far-fetched
analogies can be used to spark ideas.
Metaphors can also be used to generate
new perspectives on a problem by seeing
something as something else (Schön,
1979). Metaphors can be applied in design
to explore the problem domain from
unusual and competing perspectives,
and to reveal the hidden dimensions of a
problem to be solved (Madsen, 1994). By
applying a series of strategic questions,
it is possible to unpack the metaphor
and discover new understandings of and
potential solutions to the problem at
hand.
Design by
Metaphor
The power of seeing
something as something else
48 Design by Metaphor
Empathic
Modelling
Putting yourself in someone
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